Lent 2018 Devotional: Day Six
“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.” —1 Peter 3:15b–16
The current social and political environment in the United States does not tend to foster hope. We can become so divided from one another that we fear reaching across boundaries to meet others in their most human places, particularly when they are different from us. Our propensity to insulate ourselves from uncomfortable people and situations (when we have the material means to do so) only exacerbates the problem. For those living in poverty and under the weight of daily oppression, there is no insulation. Given these conditions, it is easy for cynicism, hopelessness, and despair to overwhelm us. Some days I become so overwhelmed that I have no energy left to bring light to others. Sometimes I break. I fear my hope is misplaced. Sometimes I lash out and have to apologize.
And yet in Christ I find a greater hope. My faith is in a Lord and Savior who challenges me each day to face that despair, cynicism, and anger, and bring a greater love into the equation. When I am at my weakest and can do no more than pray, I pray. When I need to repent, he is always there to draw me back into love, and, through the Holy Spirit, engage in the hope of reconciliation with others. Others may not consider my approach realistic. They might call it Pollyannaish. How can I express hope when our world is so broken? How can I not attack with violence? How can I not see that there is no hope for peace?
These are the spaces where my faith becomes challenging. Amidst a world where we continually inflict damage on one another and the earth that sustains us, hopefulness does require a defense. It is counterintuitive. To draw from a book title by a recent president, expressing hope is an audacious act. And yet, a hope that defies all the messages we receive from our world, the systems and institutions that violate the way of Jesus, is what God calls us to.
When have you been challenged to account for the hope that is in you? How does your faith in Christ influence your hope?
The current social and political environment in the United States does not tend to foster hope. We can become so divided from one another that we fear reaching across boundaries to meet others in their most human places, particularly when they are different from us. Our propensity to insulate ourselves from uncomfortable people and situations (when we have the material means to do so) only exacerbates the problem. For those living in poverty and under the weight of daily oppression, there is no insulation. Given these conditions, it is easy for cynicism, hopelessness, and despair to overwhelm us. Some days I become so overwhelmed that I have no energy left to bring light to others. Sometimes I break. I fear my hope is misplaced. Sometimes I lash out and have to apologize.
And yet in Christ I find a greater hope. My faith is in a Lord and Savior who challenges me each day to face that despair, cynicism, and anger, and bring a greater love into the equation. When I am at my weakest and can do no more than pray, I pray. When I need to repent, he is always there to draw me back into love, and, through the Holy Spirit, engage in the hope of reconciliation with others. Others may not consider my approach realistic. They might call it Pollyannaish. How can I express hope when our world is so broken? How can I not attack with violence? How can I not see that there is no hope for peace?
These are the spaces where my faith becomes challenging. Amidst a world where we continually inflict damage on one another and the earth that sustains us, hopefulness does require a defense. It is counterintuitive. To draw from a book title by a recent president, expressing hope is an audacious act. And yet, a hope that defies all the messages we receive from our world, the systems and institutions that violate the way of Jesus, is what God calls us to.
When have you been challenged to account for the hope that is in you? How does your faith in Christ influence your hope?
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